One year ago, the Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team had all but clinched the 2016 Jayhawk West championship with two weeks remaining in the season.

As the Blue Dragons enter the stretch run for 2017, there is much work to be done to defend the Jayhawk West championship and all games have become near must-win showdowns.

A team that finds itself right in the thick of the title chase with Hutchinson comes to the Salthawk Sports Complex on Wednesday as the No. 18 Blue Dragons take on Northwest Tech in a 4 p.m. matchup.

Entering play on Wednesday, the 11-0-1 Blue Dragons are in second place in the Jayhawk West at 6-0-1 (19 points – 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie in conference matches). Cloud County is 7-2 in league play (21 points), but the Blue Dragons have two games in hand on the Thunderbirds. Those two teams will be twice in three days beginning on October 21 in Hutchinson.

Northwest Tech is 8-2 overall and 5-2 in conference play (15 points).

The Blue Dragons own a 2-1 victory over the Mavericks. That came on Sept. 16 in Goodland. After Northwest Tech tied the match at 1-1 with 35 minutes to play in the second half – that goal was the first allowed by the Blue Dragons this season after six straight shutouts – freshman Kaitlyn Sabala scored what became the game-winning goal with 28:03 to play. Sophomore Ashley Main made four saves in earning her fourth victory of the season. Northwest goalkeeper Chloe Bailey had five saves.

Hutchinson comes off a 4-0 victory over Pratt on Friday at the Salthawk Sports Complex. Despite owning a huge advantage in possession, the Blue Dragons weren't generating a lot of scoring chances against a packed-in Beaver defense.

The Blue Dragons are out-scoring opponents 51-2 through the first 12 games of the season.